The Performance Centres are part of England Hockey's Player Pathway for players between from U14 to U17. It sits between the Academy Centres and NAGS (National Age Group Squads).

Players at Performance Centre may, at their discretion, participate in the Academy Centre programme. Though they should consider their overall sport schedule before doing so. Academy Centres may not require you to do both but some may recommend that you only do the Performance Centre.

The positions of NAGS players is not final, but it is expected that those in the U16 squads will be required to participate fully at PC and those in the U18 squads will not. If the U18 players are not required to attend PC then for those eligible for the following season's NAGS squad, a route will be found to engage them in the selection process which may be after Futures' Cup.

The Performance Centres provide a mix of training and game play opportunities between September and July. Following the PC there is Futures' Cup in late August for selected players only.

Click here for a diagrammatic overview of the single system. Click here to view the talent development booklet issued by EH detailing the coaching principals and feedback criteria.

Session Cancellations

A message will appear here if a session is cancelled at short notice due to the weather. It will also be cascaded by email and an item in the main news panel on the website.

Absences

Players are asked to report any known absence on the online form on this website. The player number is generally a five digit unique number (it is the number in the payment reference), it is not the shirt number. This will change once the Player Pathway System is running.

Registration

A new online player system is being released in late September 2017. A request to register will be sent. The link to the new system is playerpathway.englandhockey.co.uk/members/sign_in. All players are required to complete their registration as quickly as possible.

Academy Centres

Players at the Performance Level are eligible to participate in the Academy Centres though are not required to do so. They should only do after having considered their total commitment to hockey. There will be some players for whom it may be a sensible choice to do both (mainly those with no school hockey) and there will be others for whom doing both may cause them to overplay and would not necessarily be a sensible option. Please contact your county co-ordinators for more information. Counties may offer their own advice, some may recommend that you don't do both.

Selection and Transition

Selection is the process where we select the squads for the start of a cycle and transition the movement of players during the cycle. From Performance Centre players may transition to and from both NAGS and Academy Centre. This is in line with EH’s 'right player, right environment' guidelines for the Player Pathway.

Transition recognises that players are continually developing and that it may be appropriate for a player to be awarded a place at any stage of the cycle. Academy Centres (ACs) may recommend players for transition and a suitable PC session or sessions used for the assessment. During the sessions the players will train with those already at the Performance Centre. The PC coaches will assess the player against the others nominated, including those from other ACs, and those already at PC and decide whether it is appropriate to offer a place. A nomination is not a guarantee of a place.

It is hoped that all selection for the U17 squads for the following season will be handled through in-season transitions. No extra sessions are planned.

their game need to be sharpened up for them to be re-admitted to the PC.

At the end of the AC programme, the AC coaches will be able to nominate suitable U13 and U14 players for a selection event on 10 June 18 for the 2018-19 U15 squads.

EH have produced a number of guides for selection and transition. Please click the appropriate link below:

Players who are at a boarding school a significant distance from home should join the centre based on their term-time address and then may, by prior arrangement, visit the centre closer to their home during the holidays.

Centres are designed to cover a specific area. Where centres are close or are to the edge of the region that they serve, the centre that a player is allocated may not be the closest one. This is particularly the case west of Northwood and northwest of Tonbridge.

Fees

£300

Channel Islanders

£200

(but will have additional sessions on the islands to pay for)

U18 AASE Training Only

£200

For those attending a South run centre the fees can either be paid to sort code 30-92-45 account 43681268 (Southern Counties HA). You will have been provided with a personalised reference which should be included on the payment. If you have forgotten your reference or are unable to pay using online payments, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NAGS and AASE Participation

The position of NAGS and AASE players has changed for 2017-18:

U18 NAGS: do not attend PC, how we re-integrate those born in 2001 and 2002 and eligible for 2018-19 NAGS selection is still being discussed, they may or may not be eligible for Futures' Cup

U16 NAGS: attend PC and are full members

AASE:

born 2001: full PC member

born 2000: players will still be required to undertake additional performance level coaching, PC is one such environment, others will be authorised on an individual basis but will include things like National League Team squad training.

Goalkeepers

Goalkeepers will at the same location and at the time as the rest of their squad. The Golden Thread principle that governs the training format uses game play situations for most of the coaching. Whilst there will be some specialist goalkeeper training they will be involved in more of the exercises. These exercises will be designed so that the goalkeepers can take a full part in them rather than just being cannon fodder for a final shot at goal.

Goalkeepers are expected to provide their own kit, this to include helmet, throat protector, chest pad, arm and elbow protection, gloves, abdominal protector, leg pads and kickers.

Kit

Performance Centre kit is available to purchase from the EH Shop website. It is on a hidden page, if you need the link please email Tony.

Players are required to buy the playing shirts or the goalkeeping smock. These need a pre-allocated shirt number, please contact Tony if you don't have yours.

Outfield players are also required to have navy shorts (boys), navy skorts (girls), navy socks and white socks. These may be those from the site, any Adidas / unbranded items which are colour compatible.

Communication

Communication will be by email, much of what will be sent will be large batches of individually addressed emails. It is inevitable that some of these will be caught by spam filters. During the selection phase, the emailer can take around 9 hours to send all the emails.

AC Coach Engagement Days

No specific engagement days are currently planned but AC coaches may request to observe Performance Centre sessions at South Centres. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you wish to attend. If there is a particular demand at one centre, a specific event may be laid on.

We are expecting to get PC coaches to some of the AC match sessions to see the players and also advise the AC coaches on the sort of player that they are expecting at PC.

Talent Development Framework

GB Hockey have issued a document aimed at coaches describing what they are trying to achieve through the elite programmes. This document is written in such a way that players and parents will also be able to gain a better understanding of it. There are a number of imbedded videos, so it is available online only, the link is https://joom.ag/Y1WY.

South News

EH Structure Review The review was published on 09 February. Click here for more details.

John Gawley it is with sadness that we announce the death of John Gawley, a former president of the association, who worked tirelessly for Hampshire South and the Combined Services over the years. His funeral is at Havant Crematorium, 12:15 Monday 19 February.